Homebased childcare - how do you define that?

[holdingittogether]

Hope this post makes sense, bare with me on this one. After reading lots of the treads on this section I have started to wonder what is childminding care all about. I chose a childminder for my son when I worked in an office because I wanted him to be cared for in a home environment. I wanted him to do normal everyday things and not be stimulated with activities every minute of the day. I wanted him to be part of a little family, not an institution. He loved his cm and so did I. She really cared about him. When I was made redundant I decided to become a cm myself. I want to be able to provide a family style care where children can develope naturally. Where I am not hovering over them watching their every move, making notes and snapping away with the camera. Where children can chill on the sofa if they want to. Where we can potter about my house and garden together learning and playing. I feel huge pressure to pretend I am a mini nursery. I am not. I can provide lots of love, fun and play, in a relaxed family environment. I want to be a good childminder but feel since the introduction of EYFS the differences between cm and nursery style care have become blurred. I feel I always ought to be doing more than I am doing yet feel I also want to retain a relaxed family style care. Does any of that make any sense? What are your thoughts?

My thoughts on this;

As long as you convey to any potential families what your childminding style is and that you are not wanting to be a mini nursery - then if this is what they also want (and a lot do) then they will choose you and be happy with this type of care.

As for Ofsted - I'd probably fake it a bit to make it look more like I am doing the eyfs that is required, but I'd also realise that unless I am a mini nursery I probably would not get graded 'outstanding' but hopefully a 'good'. Just make sure you communicate well with the parents over this and point out whay this might be.

And write to your MP, support petitions, write to the Education Sec! Anything. It's all about 'Educare' now and producing evidence to show you are doing it. It's not necessarily what parents want.

I have to say that I would not have got my outstanding grading had I not fully complied with OFSTED's EYFS with the obs, planning, loads of paperwork etc., plus have a variety of multi-cultural toys and books etc. That's what they require.

I do all my paperwork (except daily diaries) after hours so the kids always have my full attention and a homely environment. We have busy busy days with activities and outings, and we have more relaxed days too - all depends on the kids, the weather etc. That's the beauty of childminding

My parents love the fact I have so many resources and play things for their kids... but importantly, it isn't in a classroom, it is in a lovely (or at least I think so ) homely playroom and open plan lounge diner area. The garden, common and play park and local vege shop are 2 mins walk away.

The pottering around in the garden is also what OFSTED want, so do carry on! It's learning through play. Exactly what they want... there is just all the paperwork and the necessity to have certain resources added to that too if you hope for a higher grading.

There is NOTHING wrong with satisfactory or good gradings anyway, that means you meet/more than meet OFSTED requirements, which one should be proud of!

Thank you for your thoughts. My ofsted grading was "good". I was happy with that. I have no burning desire to gain "outstanding" I just want to provide the type of care I believe in and that parents who choose me want. I care about the children and parents 10 times more than I care about ofsted which is how it should be imo.

If you got 'good', OFSTED must love you and you are doing all and far more than they require.

There is a lot of pressure on childminders - constant training etc. and whereas at the beginning I got onto as many weekend courses as I could, now I don't... I just do what I need to do, plus specific one's I wish to... I don't feel compelled/pressured to do as many as I can.

'I just want to provide the type of care I believe in and that parents who choose me want. I care about the children and parents 10 times more than I care about ofsted which is how it should be imo.'

I agree

Gosh Holding - it could have been me writing that post . You have summed up exactly how I feel. The fun has gone and the pressure is there constantly to do this, that and a whole lot more to comply with EYFS.

I've had enough and sent my first job application off yesterday - I feel so liberated today . Am on the verge of getting my life back and transforming my house from nursery to home once more.

I don't feel like I want to give up. Just feeling a little confused about how much/little to do and how to keep everything in balance iyswim. I feel plenty of child minders appear to do more than I do in certain areas yet in terms of real outcomes for children I feel the children in my care are still doing really well and are happy, healthy, safe etc.

'I feel the children in my care are still doing really well and are happy, healthy, safe etc. '

That's all that matters. Just keep on doing what you're doing - parents, kids, OFSTED are all happy with your care

Thank you for your support jennipenni

How I agree with you, holdingittogether!

I gave up childminding about 8 years ago, just as Ofsted became involved. They assured us nothing fundamental would change, but I had been a teacher before childminding and was wise to them. Bad enough they had invaded my classroom, I wasn't having them in my home!

I loved childminding, but I wouldn't do it now.

In my day parents chose a childminder as opposed to a nursery because they wanted a home from home for their kids, a family atmosphere. I still get a little choked when I remember one of the older children saying happily 'We're like a family, aren't we?'.

I'm appalled when I hear of the hoops childminders have to jump through these days.

I agree with you. Parents choose a childminder because they want a home from home environment, rather than a nursery environment, but Ofsted have other ideas. You seem to be keeping Ofsted happy, so carry on as you are. (and write to everyone you can think of)

The main thing is to make sure the children enjoy their time with you and are safe. Ofsted inspectors are paper pushers anyway and only understand lots of data.
Make sure you have comprehensive risk assesments for everything, policies (especially Safeguarding),can show that you communicate with parents via newsletters or surveys and the observations....you only need to do one per month per child.
What they are interested in is the quality of the observation and not the quantity, so no long essays.
You don't even need to rewrite everything, just write your obs on stickers and put them straight on the observation form with a photo or drawing...et voila!
Play, play and more play is what they want